I'm running a homebrew that has a group of adventurers going through a long abandoned dwarven stronghold that's located at the top of a mountain. they're currently going through a very large under ground lake that leads back into another portion of the stronghold.
They will then come into another sculpted hallway that leads into a "defense room" (room with partial walls, alcoves, partial corners). At the end of this room is the large (size of medium human) clear glass orb sitting on a pentagram in side a circle.
What would I use this orb for?
Holding back an outsider whose life force is being used to power the facility. (not my idea, stolen from an adventure path whose name rhymes with moon fords)
Perhaps the orb contains a miniturized civilization the dwarves were attempting to re-size, and restore to it's more natural size (also borrowed, Kandor!!!)
Maybe when the party approaches, inside they see nothing but darkness, swirling about inside the orb like oil in water. Break the glass at their own risk.
Perhaps the orb is a permanent gate to the plane of orbs, a white featureless transitory plane consisting only of floating glass orbs. While in this plane, touching an orb will send the party to a correlating point on the material plane.
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If any creature comes within X feet of the orb, it summons X demon.
Any creature reduced to negative hit points within X feet of the orb is affected by a "Trap the Soul" spell (with appropriately difficult DC)
Any divine caster keyed to the orb with X feet can use the orbs energy to apply X metamagic feat to X number of spells per day.
I'm sure there are other things. :-)
The orb is some kind of cocoon - if cracked open, a child who they mysteriously could not see when it was whole can be found inside, floating in a soup of fluids now leaking from the ruined thing. This child turns out to be a prodigy of some sort (IE class levels, no young creature template) that becomes important either immediately or later.
Of course, the child is some sort of creature that defends itself while in this state - the orb could act like a trap, casting some sort of spell(s), while the PC's have to fight other enemies in the room. The attacks of the orb are neither hostile nor friendly to either side; smart PC's could realize that if they knock an enemy close to it, KER-ZAP.
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Make the orb unleash a hoard of ghost dwarven warriors that were trapped thousands of years ago and are confused if they so much as touch it, maybe make your pcs need to fix the problem because otherwise they get executed in a court of law.
Or you could say that the orb is an extra-dimensional portal to "WonderLand", the place where jub jub birds and jabberwocks and vorpal weapons are born
When the orb is cracked open, the naked body of a party member falls out.
Instantly, the player gains control of this new body, as the body he was previously controlling, collapses in on itself, returning to the ectoplasm from which it came.
What this says about the remaining party members is another matter entirely.
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What would I use this orb for?
It's some collector's knick-knack (paddy-wack), formerly part of someone's alchemy set.
Their is an aura of mystery surrounding it, but no matter what the party does, what spell they cast, they only get a one-word answer: "Rosebud. . ."
Go to this thread and choose a random entry.
I'm running a homebrew that has a group of adventurers going through a long abandoned dwarven stronghold that's located at the top of a mountain. they're currently going through a very large under ground lake that leads back into another portion of the stronghold.
They will then come into another sculpted hallway that leads into a "defense room" (room with partial walls, alcoves, partial corners). At the end of this room is the large (size of medium human) clear glass orb sitting on a pentagram in side a circle.
What would I use this orb for?
The orb is magical doorway with limited magical intelligence to the original undercity of the dwarves. The dwarves sealed it after a long war against the 'great evil' that they accidently released (think Balrog) and it's minions (hordes of minor demons that were entombed with it). Only dwarves of non evil alignment can pass through it with the exeption that non evil, non dwarves can pass if they are vouched for by a non evil dwarf. The dwarf must accept a geas from the Orb of the Ancestors that negatively affects them if the non dwarf vouched for disturbs the remaions of or takes the possessions of dwarves past the gateway. Basically it will mess up a dwarf who vouches for someone who then goes on to desecrate the dwarven undercity. GM can make up what desecration means.
The massive damage of the war and the creeping evil taint of the creature caused the dwarves to abandon the upper city as well and it became the dungeon the characters are in now.
The orb is nearly indestructable from this side and cannot be destroyed by the enemy on the other side. A dwarf can easily smash it from the undercity side but then it opens the undercity to the world.
Possibly an epic level creature is entombed behind the orb, which is why the dwarves never could defeat it. They hid the knowledge from the rest of the world since it would have brought great shame on them. There would also be ancient dwarven vaults possibly holding untold riches and weapons beyong normal power in the undercity if anyone could open them.
Ok,
I can't do teleporting because the party is right in the middle of a major campaign and taking them to another world/time/ place is to difficult.
Secondly, the effect has to make since with the environment (a 1,000 year old sealed off dwarven stronghold in upper reaches of a mountain).
@Draykhar
Can you elaborate on and provide any spells that do the suggested effects...
Holding back an outsider whose life force is being used to power the facility. (not my idea, stolen from an adventure path whose name rhymes with moon fords)
When the orb is cracked open, the naked body of a party member falls out.
@The Shining Fool
I also like your ideas as they make some sense. How would this effect apply to the strong hold and have a logical application...
If any creature comes within X feet of the orb, it summons X demon.
Any creature reduced to negative hit points within X feet of the orb is affected by a "Trap the Soul" spell (with appropriately difficult DC)
Any divine caster keyed to the orb with X feet can use the orbs energy to apply X metamagic feat to X number of spells per day.
@ Daniel/Tiny Coffee Golem
I'm unsure how the child could survive for a 1,000 years and I should of mentioned this before. it's my fault to leave out relevant info.
@ArmouredMonk
Can you give further info. Why would the ghost army be there? Who is confused? Why are they getting executed?
THANK YOU for all the posts and now "drum roll"...here is why the orb is currently sitting there.... If the party says a specific password it will teleport them to the second to last room further in the strong hold so they by-pass all the dangerous rooms. They give another password to open the magical talking door (I have an actual mini door with a face) and this puts them into the last room. This room then opens before the massive chasm and invisible bridge which leads to the other side of the mountain.
Temporal Stasis; 'nuff said. xD
The orb is part of a failed attempt at a magic item. It radiates mild magic but is otherwise inert.
THe orb is part of a charlatain's act; he (or she) liked to wave hands over it and incant "look into my crystal ball..." while pretending to be the world's greatest diviner.
The orb was part of a decorative creche, used as a table centerpiece. It will sell for up to 10 gp at some of the tackier shops in Cheliax.
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The "X feet or summon a demon" could actually be "X feet or summon a powerful outsider bound to defend against anyone not of the Dwarven clan's bloodline" ... Any Dwarf of the clan's bloodline can interact with the sphere with no ill effect.
The trap the soul trap was initially meant to save the soul of the powerful clerical defenders of the stronghold at this, their last bastion. However, a millennium has taken its toll on the once powerful magics. Now, instead of capturing the spirits of the powerful clerics of (God's name here), in order to raise them them from the dead at a safe time in the future, it traps the spirits of dying enemies in a howling chaos of pain and torment.
The divine caster one works as is.
Side note...I'm a new GM so some comments you make will be obvious to everyone and you but I may go, "huh?" :)
@ The Shining Fool..the idea of get within X feet has some real merit due to the part of the stronghold there in is the defensible part of the caverns. this is the area meant to keep unwanted forces out of. The second part of the stronghold separated by the chasm is there actual living quarters
@Daniel ahhh now the party will understand (temporal stasis) how my dragon was trapped for 1,000 years! hehehehe!
@Shining Fool..
Thanks again for everyone's suggestion! I chose to if within 10' of orb and no "trigger word" then summons a Bebilith. There will be two different semi-clothed dwarven slkelton's on the floor with a huge spider like skeleton as well to "warn" the players of a long ago battle between two different dwarven factions.
Spider exoskeleton. It will have it's remaining legs curled up under it.